Color Struck: How Race and Complexion Matter in the “Color-Blind” Era (Teaching Race and Ethnicity)

Skin color and skin tone has historically played a significant role in determining the life chances of African Americans and other people of color. It has also been important to our understanding of race and the processes of racialization. But what does the relationship between skin tone and stratification outcomes mean? Is skin tone correlated with stratification outcomes because people with darker complexions experience more discrimination than those of the same race with lighter complexions? Is skin tone differentiation a process that operates external to communities of color and is then imposed on people of color? Or, is skin tone discrimination an internally driven process that is actively aided and abetted by members of communities of color themselves? Color Struck provides answers to these questions. In addition, it addresses issues such as the relationship between skin tone and wealth inequality, anti-black sentiment and whiteness, Twitter culture, marriage outcomes and attitudes, gender, racial identity, civic engagement and politics at predominately White Institutions. Color Struck can be used as required reading for courses on race, ethnicity, religious studies, history, political science, education, mass communications, African and African American Studies, social work, and sociology. Front Matter ....Pages i-xvii Race, Skin Tone, and Wealth Inequality in America (Cedric Herring, Anthony Hynes)....Pages 1-17 Mentions and Melanin (Sarah L. Webb, Petra A. Robinson)....Pages 19-35 Beyond Black and White But Still in Color (Antoinette M. Landor)....Pages 37-53 Connections or Color? (Vanessa Gonlin)....Pages 55-76 Black Body Politics in College (Latasha N. Eley)....Pages 77-122 Biracial Butterflies (Paul Easterling)....Pages 123-142 Confronting Colorism (Jahaan Chandler)....Pages 143-156 How Skin Tone Shapes Civic Engagement among Black Americans (Robert L. Reece, Aisha A. Upton)....Pages 157-177 The Complexity of Color and the Religion of Whiteness (Stephen C. Finley, Lori Latrice Martin)....Pages 179-196 Back Matter ....Pages 197-198